Newsmaker Q & A

October 26, 2008|By William J. Ford Of The Morning Call

Last week, the state Labor Relations Board appointed a fact-finder to help the Northampton Area School District and its teachers union agree on a new contract. The current three-year contract expired Aug. 31. Union president Thomas J. Laputka, who has said the district's representative violated the expired contract by releasing details of the ongoing negotiations, has been a key figure in the dispute. Laputka, 51, a science teacher at the middle school, is the subject of this week's Q&A.

Q: Why hasn't the union settled on a contract with the district?

A: Because we have terms and conditions that we cannot agree upon.

Q: Do you feel what the union is doing is right, especially when the East Penn School District approved a new teacher contract eight months before the current one expired?

A: Yes. When you look at the settlements that have occurred in Northampton and Lehigh counties, what we are asking for is below what the final settlements were for in neighboring school districts. In terms of working conditions, for example, health care [and] percentage salary increases which is always a sticking point. What we have been asking for is lower than what the surrounding districts have ended at.

Q: How are teachers feeling about the ongoing negotiations and working without a new contract?

A: Our morale is extremely low at this point. A large percentage of our teachers never had a contract issue since the last one in 1989, so this is very new territory. When this was all happening, I invited retirees to speak with the young teachers to know the sun will shine the next day.

Q: How many teachers in the district?

A: 412, but that number may go up at the next school board meeting

Q: Why a career in teaching?

A: Primarily because I had some great teachers as a youth. To help people [who] helped me.

Q: What is the best experience you had as a teacher?

A: Probably seeing a whole bunch of my students come back to become teachers. I would say, upwards of 10 here at Northampton. We have people at our high school, the elementary schools and people within a few feet of me here at the middle school. Teachers get paid, but that is really our pay when someone you taught is really successful.

Q: When you have a tough day at school, what do you do to relax?

A: I either work out, or I golf. I have a gym in my basement. I work out in with my wife.